OUR 4TH PURPOSE IS
TO SERVE GOD BY SERVING OTHERS.

As ministers we have model to follow who is Jesus Christ.

“Jesus said, ‘Your attitude must be like My own, for I did not come to be served, but to serve.’”
(Matthew 20:28)

How do we do that?

First we must realize that

SERVING LIKE JESUS MEANS BEING AVAILABLE.

I remember when I was first in the ministry I was often frustrated, even angry when I went into the office with plans of clearing off my desk of work that had piled over the last week and when I left at the end of the day I didn’t touch a single item.  I didn’t get to a single thing because all day long I was bothered with interruptions.  People just dropped into the office.  There were several phone calls.  The senior pastor called a staff meeting.  I could feel the frustration and anger just boiling up within me as the day went on and the work I planned to do wasn’t getting done.

Today I see interruptions as appointments that God had put in my daily schedule.  I attribute my change in attitude to the fact that the more I got into God’s Word it became obvious that some of the greatest moments of ministry in Jesus’ life were interruptions.

Matthew 20:30-32 reads
“Two blind men shouted, ‘Lord, have mercy on us!’
Jesus stopped and called them.
‘What do you want me to do for you?”

Note what Jesus did, Jesus stopped.  He did this over and over again.  When he healed the blind, the lame man and the paralytic.  When he healed the woman who touched his garment.  When he raised the dead child.  I could go on and on.  Interruptions were where Jesus’ ministry was happening.  It opened my eyes that I need to plan my day, fully expecting Jesus to plan appointments, interruptions for ministry in my day.

I had reached this point in typing the draft of this sermon when the office phone rang.  It was a young woman who was looking for a bereavement support group.  Her 32 year-old fiancée was killed in a car accident last month.  We talked for a while, asked if we could pray for her.  Coincident?  I think not!  It was a divine appointment.

I t just proved that ministry begins with being AVAILABLE. As Paul said, “Each one should use whatever gift he’s received to serve others.”

Paul said, “Run the race with perseverance.” What Paul doesn’t tell you is that the race we are running is like running the hurdles in track.

All too often obstacles or hurdles appear in our path. All too often people attach a BUT to their availability.  I would love to help you, ‘BUT’.  I am very interested in what you are doing, ‘BUT’.  Sometime this BUT is a result of being self-centered. The first hurdle or barrier to being available is SELF-CENTEREDNESS.

Do you remember the very first sentence in the Purpose Driven Life book?  “It’s not about you.”  Everything we have been reading, every discussion we have had in small groups, every sermon that I have preached since October 9th is building on that sentence.  “It’s not about you.”  The purpose of your life and mine is TO BE WHAT GOD MADE YOU TO BE.  God made you to serve like Jesus Christ.

The problem we have is busyness.  We are just to busy.  I don’t have time to serve.  I have my dreams, my goals, my ambition, my plans.  I don’t have time.  When it comes to serving like Christ it is as though we have put up a “Do Not Disturb Sign” on our hearts.

The second hurdle or barrier to being available is PERFECTIONISM.

Eccl. 11:4 states,
“If you wait for perfect conditions,
you’ll never get anything done.”

This past summer when we were in Port Huron three of our teenage girls were given the job of helping to build a handicap accessible ramp at a Habitat for Humanity work site. When they were told what they were going to do they said, “We can’t do that.  We don’t know how to build a ramp.”  They didn’t believe that they were capable of handling such a task.  They didn’t trust that God could use them to build a ramp.  At week’s end they had completed the ramp and watched the young man it was built for use it.  We don’t have to be perfect.  We don’t have to have perfect conditions to do ministry.  We have to trust that God will use us as He chooses to.

The third hurdle or barrier to being available is MATERIALISM or what I call WORLDLINESS.  Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters.  You cannot serve both God and money.”  You and I have a choice to make.  Do we want to be rich or do we want to be blessed?  If materialism/worldliness is your number one priority then you won’t have time to be used to serve God by serving others.

“Jesus said, ‘Your attitude must be like My own,
for I did not come to be served, but to serve.’”

SERVING LIKE JESUS MEANS BEING GRATEFUL.

When opportunities come up to serve what is your attitude.  Is painful resignation or grateful gladness?

There were many times in school when I wasn’t prepared, when I hadn’t done my homework, or I wasn’t paying attention and the teacher would ask the class a question. Not wanting to be picked I would kind of slouch down in my chair, not look up and pray, ‘God don’t let the teacher pick me.  Unfortunately many Christians have this same attitude when the church is looking for volunteers to serve.

Serving like Jesus means being grateful.  When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He prayed,

“Father, I thank You that You heard me.”

Gratefulness was His attitude as it was Paul’s.  Paul said, I thank Jesus Christ because He trusted me.   He gave me this work of serving Him.”   The Psalmist said,

“Serve the Lord with gladness.”

Why should we serve with gladness, because we are grateful?   We are grateful that Jesus died on the cross and has given us new life.  Do you need any other reason?

Just like there are hurdles to jump in being AVAILABLE to serve, there are hurdles to jump in being GRATEFUL.  The first hurdle is comparing and criticizing.

There was a church that needed money to build a new church building.  In an effort to raise that money the finance committee came up with a plan to have some friendly competition between the groups.  They gave each group $100. and gave them three months to see how much money they could raise using the $100 as seed money.

Each group in the church was excited about this challenge.  They put up a scoreboard listing weekly totals. There was a spirit of friendly competition.  Each group came up with some clever ideas.  After three months every group had raised at least more than 5 times the amount of money they were given.

The level of participation and excitement was so high, that the church members wanted to do it again.  Each group was given back the another $100 and the games began.  The excitement increased a notch, as did the competitive spirit.  Each group wanted to do better than their previous effort.  Their fund raising ideas were more creative.  As the weekly results were posted the intensity of competition increased.  That is when the problems began.  The group that was in first place basically boycotted the fund raising event planned by the group in second place.  One of the groups that was really lagging behind got some retailers to donate items for a raffle.  This brought complaints from other groups that they were cheating.  The complaints and criticism became so great that the governing board of the church stopped the fund raising.  Unfortunately they couldn’t stop the complaining and criticizing of the members.  The result was no new church building, because there was no longer a congregation that needed a building.   Competition with each other of any kind, be it for fund raising purposes, fellowship, or programs doesn’t make sense.  We are all on the same team.  We all have the same goal.  We are to prove by our love how great God is.  God has given us different abilities and different tasks, so lets use the abilities and do the tasks, gratefully without comparison or criticism.

The second hurdle we have to jump to serve God gratefully is wrong motivation.   What did I say was the first line in The Purpose Drive Life book.   “It is not about you.” Honestly serving God can be and sometimes is self-serving.

If we serve to get others to like us;
If we serve to be admired;
If we serve to achieve our own goal;
If we serve to have a bargaining chip with God;
Then our serving is self-serving.

“Jesus said, ‘Your attitude must be like My own,
for I did not come o be served, but to serve.’”

SERVING LIKE JESUS MEANS BEING FAITHFUL.

In Jesus prayer recorded in John 17 Jesus prayed,

“I have brought You glory on earth by
completing the work that You gave me to do.”

1 Corinthians 4:2 records these words of Paul,
“The one thing required of servants is that they be faithful.”

1 Corinthians 15:58 records these words of Paul,
“Throw yourselves into the work of the Master,
confident that nothing you do for Him
is a waste of time or effort.”

There is no little service done in God’s name, only significant service.  As Jesus said,

“When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat.
When I was thirsty you, gave me something to drink.  When I was a stranger, you welcomed me.
When I was naked, you clothed me.
When I was sick, you took care of me.
When I was in prison, you came to visit me…
Whatever you did for one of the least of these,
you did for me.”

Someday each one of us will stand before God to give account of our lives.  My prayer for is these will be the Words that you will here.

“Well done, good and faithful servant!
You have been faithful…
Come and share Your master’s happiness.”